Cleanup in Moore, Okla. Continues

By Grant Dovey

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August 15, 2013 01:35 PM

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Nearly three months following a rare EF5 tornado, West Virginia University Director of Athletics Oliver Luck took a visit to Moore, Okla., to see the area that the WVU baseball team helped to clean up.

The purpose of the visit was to determine where a $200,000 donation in the name of the WVU baseball program by Ken Kendrick would be used. Kendrick, the Arizona Diamondbacks Managing General Partner and WVU alumnus, donated the money to the Oklahoma City All Sports Association.

On Wednesday, Luck and Tim Brassfield, the Executive Director of the Oklahoma City All Sports Association, looked at different complexes across the area and met with numerous people to see where the money best fit.

“Oliver called me six weeks ago and scheduled a time to come out to see how we can use Mr. Kendrick’s contribution,” Brassfield says.

One option is to put the money towards a damaged complex where the Moore Youth Baseball Association plays. The facility, owned by the City of Moore, houses eight baseball fields and four softball fields.

“It has a lot of infrastructure issues with backstops being bent, scoreboards and light poles being torn down, etc.,” Brassfield says. “What we are trying to do is figure out if this is the right area to use this.”

Another option is donating the money to the local YMCA that has had hundreds of kids displaced and unable to participate in local leagues.

“Tourney numbers have been cut in half because when a situation like the tornado happens, the last thing on a parent’s mind is baseball,” Brassfield says. “We want to make sure we are covering basic needs first and foremost.”

Brassfield’s organization also is the one that runs the Big 12 Tournament and he hinted at making the event an annual partnership with the Moore community and baseball organizations around Oklahoma City.

As for WVU baseball, the legacy of the team and coach Randy Mazey jumping into action to help with the cleanup, is something that locals will never forget.

“In my group of 41 board members, we have meetings and his name (Mazey) always comes up,” Brassfield says. “He is a tremendous leader and it was obvious that his priorities are right.

“He said we can’t worry about baseball, but we will later, and he showed that leadership. It challenged the other teams to get involved in their own backyard. The tournament had that sense of numbness and by him doing what he did with his team, it let us see there was hope.”